Malphias Legate
The Lord and Protectorate of the Coastal city of Old Oak, the last of House Legate and the founder of the "Road to Zion" (Zionism) religion, acting Warchief of a number of Tribes and Master at Arms for struggling factions in places torn apart by war, Malphias is a celebrated Military genius able to adapt to his environment and his troops in the space of a few days and has lead his men to victory after victory. Birth Lord Lanius Legate "Lion of the West" and Maria Caannan were Malphias parents. Lanius was a war hero, having proved himself in three wars with House Bolton and House Medvyed through a mixture of cunning, courage and brute strength, turning the tides in a split second and earning his place in the Hall of Heroes along side his child hood friend Joshua Graham. Together they turned desperate defeats into pyrrhic victories with their presence on the battle field, relishing the whirlwind of violence and adrenaline. Maria Caannan was a foreigner who barely spoke Common, had a very detached demeanor and stayed away from the public eye as much as she could, but loved Lanius with all her heart. After experiencing visions and premonitions during pregnancy with her first child she wrote them down in a tome before experiencing a vision that told her she would never see her sons face. Lanius and his men were called to war once more, marching his host to siege of a combined force of Bolton and Mercenary forces, using his reputation and guerilla tactics to make them think he had more troops then he really did until he combined his forces with a few of the nearby tribes. Storming the walls of "Blackgate" Lanius took a arrow in the knee whilst yelling a rallying cry to the men behind him. He passed away on the steps of the Keep in the arms of Prospero Ordo. Malphias was born as the walls were stormed, sickly and twisted, nothing like his father. She passed away, to exhausted to open her eyes and in her last breath naming her son Malphias, like it had some meaning back home. When the death of Lanius reached the Retainers that were still at Old Oak, they openly discussed killing the baby Malphias and dividing up his fathers land until a grief stricken Joshua Graham slaughtered them all in a fit of rage and passion to protect his best friends only child. Baptism by fire Being sick and twisted Malphias was restricted to his quarters and studied books and maps instead of how to handle a sword or ride a horse like the other Lordlings which left him full of frustration and envy. Trapped in his room for twelves years with a expansive library which led him to learn new languages in order to learn about new civilization he would never meet or places he would never visit. Joshua Graham and Prospero Ordo took control of the Legate household and kept their House together. One day he heard of a Witch in the nearby swamp from the maids and manservants. Magic was taboo and rare in Old Oak to the point that most didn't believe it existed. Malphias pulled himself from his chambers, barely able to stand and support his own weight, being forced to use a walking stick like a old man in order to support his twisted back. He lost himself in the swamp, losing his cane in a sinkhole, his clothes to thorn branches and his senses to dehydration. After 3 days he found the Witch tending a cauldron in a clearing, dropping animals and mushrooms inside. Malphias introduced himself as politely as he could, trying to bring himself up straight before asking if she would reverse his terrible affliction, to fix his back and body, make him healthy so he could be happy. She smiled, sipped from her cauldron. "I am Alpha and Omega. The beginning..." she smiled before snapping her fingers, lighting Malphias on fire and collapsing the ground beneath him, sending him down into the earth. His charred body was found on the steps of the main keep with the Legate flag drapped over his body. After being carried inside he was estimated to live for three hours, but he stayed alive for three weeks, refusing any pain killers or visitors. His body had been burned all over, but it was no longer twisted, sickly or groggy, news of his survival spread quickly and the legend of the Burned Man began to fabricate. Two years later Malphias took over control of his family lands and tariffs, holding court in the main hall, wrapped in bandages and stuck to his chair because he wasn't able to hold himself up. With Prospero Ordo and Joshua Graham at his side to help him make the right decision, but most of the time he was to generous when handing out relief and aid to his people. Malphias carried a cane in order to wander the hall of Old Oak, the ones he had never been through before in his life, visiting his parents room where Lanius Legates armour was still displayed in the same condition it had been in since Blackgate. checking through his mothers cabinet he found the tome she had scrawled her visions in and spent the next few weeks reading it, having to learn a whole new language to do so. Reading what was meant to be a series of moral, ethical and cautionary tales mixed with complex philosophies he interpreted it as a new religion, one that he adopted and founded over the next few years. Three weeks after his fourteenth birthday one of his retainers "Martin Strum" came to his court and made threats about Malphias's heritage, Martin's father had been killed by Joshua in protection for Malphias and Martin claimed Malphias was a bastard as he was nothing like Lanius. Malphias sat and listened, all the way up to where Martin threatened rebellion, Malphias snapped his fingers and Martin was lit on fire. As he screamed Malphias pulled himself to his feet, struggling to stay up without his cane before hobbling forward, reaching his hands into the flames and grabbing Martin by the throat "Burn like I did!" he yelled like his farther as the rebel was cooked alive before casting him down. The court, stunned by this was silent, until one started to chant "The Burned Man Walks!" which quickly filled the hall until he collapsed onto the floor. Early Career Turning his studies from strange legends and disturbing cultures to Martial Warfare and historical military generals, studying their talents and strategies in depth to where he could execute the most complicated strategies in seconds. The perfect opportunity to test his new skills when one of the smaller houses "Malnok" called for aid as they were being taken over by House Bolton who claimed the land was theirs by right and had been for centuries, Malphias called his banners and his new force of Zionist Zealots, simply known as "The Burned Men" to arms and marched on the Bolton's forces who were laying siege to House Malnok's keep. Malphias used the Burned Men to sneak into the Bolton camp and light fire to their tents, food storage and weapon cashes before escaping back into the tree line, having left a Bolton Officer dead with the new sigil of House Legate carved into his belly. The Bolton forces were torn apart, troops deserted knowing the legend of the Burned Man, troops were sent out to scavenge from nearby farms and towns but never returned, being hung from the treeline by the neck at night to scare the Boltons forces even more until Malphias lead a night raid on the camp, destroying the Bolton forces in a three hour blood bath. Being thanked for his support he led his men home, it was obvious that Malphias was angry, furious with the lack of Boltons to bring to justice for their war crimes... but he kept himself calm and collected. Over the next few years Malphias left Old Oak and helped a number of Tribes in their wars with one another, practicing his guerrilla warfare tactics and building relationships and economical links with the Ashfoot, White Valley and Sorrow tribes,as well as a few others, bolstering the eastern front by teaching the tribes how to use tools and other techniques in weapon maintenance and medicine. Malphias caught the eye of one of the major Houses across the water, "Kaiser Carde" who hired Malphias and his Burned Men to help quell a rebellion from a number of retainers and tribals. Malphias and Kaiser became good friends, intellectual equals and chess enemies, debating Philosophy, ethics and morality along the course of the war, which ended quickly with Malphias's intervention to the point where Kaiser became angry, jealous at the praise Malphias was getting for his intervention. As Malphias gave his final speech to his Burned Men before Kaiser's men stormed into the clearing and attacked, claiming that Malphias was planning to betray Kaiser when the time was right, slaughtering the Burned Men who fought to the death to protect Malphias before the last of the Burned Men pushed Malphias off the cliff and into the sea. Malphias experienced visions and nightmares, similar to those his mother experienced before being washed up on shore. Dragging himself back to the safety of a tribe he once helped called "The Sorrows" he rested and recovered, in the mean time teaching them different technologies and techniques that would make their lives in the valleys much easier, he also drilled their warriors on how to fight as a independent unit. When he had fully recovered he returned home to Old Oak, denouncing Kaiser before turning his gaze to a War Band stirred up by his new enemy, led by a tribal called "Salt-Upon-Wounds". Tribal Matador "Salt-Upon-Wounds" was a viscous warlord who had been lead by Kaiser to believe that without Malphias, the Zionists were weak and could be easily raided and destroyed. Salt-Upon-Wounds was given his name when he salted the earth of the farming villages and towns he raided, destroying a people's future and livelihood by ensuring that nothing would grow there for years, slowly becoming more viscous and brutal and conquering cities and small nations, enslaving their people and beating any sign of their past from them. Salt-Upon-Wounds marched through the Great Valley into Legate lands with a tribal swarm of warriors to pillage Legate lands, even after Malphias was revealed to be alive they persisted. Knowing that he could not amass a force large enough to beat Salt-Upon-Wounds he took as many as he could, Burned Men, Castle Guard, Farmers and Levies with him on a genius game of cat and mouse. Salt-Upon-Wounds didn't have the military might or technology to assault Old Oak and was to clumsy to risk a full scale siege, so he would have to ravage the country to draw Malphias out, but he already knew this. Sending Scouts out, Malphias instructed his men to inform everyone they could to take refugee in Old Oak, take what they could carry and burn the crops whilst the Legate Host followed the Tribals, picking off Scavenging parties, the odd deserter and learned what he could from them before hanging them on the Tribals predicted path. Salt-Upon-Wound's host wasn't a single tribe but a collection of 8 with all the Chiefs in a council to advise Salt-Upon-Wounds, each hungry for glory, riches and carnage. Following the tribal host close enough for them to know they were being followed and picked off, but always placing his men in positions where they had a major advantage against the Tribals, forcing Salt-Upon-Wounds to go around him each time. Without farms to pillage, food to eat, woman to rape or slaves to be taken, the glory hungry Tribals dissolved into in fighting, questioning Salt-Upon-Wounds ability to lead their sledgehammer of a army, the chief of the "Ghost Walkers" directly challenged Salt-Upon-Wounds, but was silenced when his face was beaten so hard by the Warlord that there was nothing left to cut off as a message. Tribes deserted to look for better pickings and were surrounded and slaughtered by Legate Forces. Dividing and destroying the majority of the Tribals forces, Malphias was out maneuvered by Salt-Upon-Wounds and trapped against a river to deep to ford on a spider like road way. Unable to go over the mountains that surrounded them Malphias was stuck waiting for Salt-Upon-Wounds to make the next move, hearing their war chants, laughter and feasts from his encampment, he had a new idea. The tribals were deeply engaged in there war time festival to ready them for the crushing victory over the Legate forces, they spotte fires out in the darkness, grabbing their weapons they charged across the fields and road to find Oxen. Malphias had encountered a Farmer taking his cattle for refugee at Old Oak had bought them all, strapping flaming torches to their horns and sent them towards the Tribals to lure them away long enough to slip his smaller more uniform past their lines, and it worked beautifully. Humiliated by this trick, the tribal army was split in two, the famished deserters were killed until only Salt-Upon-Wounds remained. Once more out maneuvering the remaining Tribals Malphias was able to trap them in a mountain valley, on one side the Legate Forces and the other the Ashfoot tribe. The combined Legate and Ashfoot forces butchered the tribals in the space of a hour, having crushed their bodies with weeks of starvation, their morale with the sight of their dead and their spirit with the lack of farmers to pillage, they were destroyed. every tribal was killed except Salt-Upon-Wounds who had escaped, slipping past the Legate lines and made his way to a temple to hide, where Malphias, Joshua Graham and Prospero Ordo followed him, prematurely disbanding their army and letting his men return home to recover. Finding Salt-Upon-Wounds, bundling gold and silver into a sack to escape, Joshua restrained him, Prospero beat him, and Malphias executed him. Returning home, Malphias was lorded as a hero for his cunning and tactical mastery which he would go on to exhibit in future wars. Bitter-Springs Massacre With his defeat of Salt-Upon-Wounds at the Battle of Cannan, Malphias went on to win a number of Battles against Kaiser, or atleast the men and generals Kaiser threw at Malphias along with the War Ships that Malphias's Master of Sails had to deal with, Malphias tested his cunning against everything Kaiser had to offer untill their small war ended in a stalemate, Malphias, drawn back into the Poltics of Brevoy was orderd not to pursue his convictions against his nemisis so that peace and trade could be set up with Kaiser's forming empire, the one he had helped create. Turning his gaze back to the many waring tribals of the north and east valley passages, Malphias in a moment of weakness lead his army of religous Zealots into the valley accompanied by Phelan Harren and Joshua Graham. Positioning his troops on the neighbouring ridge and filled with hatred and frustration he orderd his men to destroy one of the most violent tribes "Cold Palms" against the pleas from Phelan who was disgusted by the slaughter of men, woman and children and terrified by how willing the Zealots were willing to do for Malphias. Relationship with the Harren Family To help one of his long time allies and best friends "Phelan Harren", Malphias took in the remaining members of the Harren family and gave them new idenities and find places for them in the world as there was no proof that the Boltons were responsible for their parents death. He sent Davian to a Mercenary band to train him in combat, to teach him what training ground fights couldn't and make him into the warriro his father would have been proud of. He sent Sona to a Bard College where she honed her skills and eventually became a traveling bard, singing the praise of the Burned Man of Old Oak. He gave Tysana, Rob and Ada new identites as Joshua Grahams nieces and nephews, raising them in the castle of Old Oak. Ada grew to idolize Malphias when he was around, at a young age Malphias personaly taught her philosophy and ethics during board games, war stories and chess matches. He played War games with Ada with small figurenes and allowed her to sit in on his court. When people started to question the legitamacy of Tysana, Robs and Ada's heiratage to Joshua Graham, Malphias married Tysana in order to keep her and her family safe from the Boltons, a loveless marriage but it kept her safe so it was good enough for them. Book of Zion Being written by his Mother before his birth, Malphias read the Tome repeatadily, seeing it as the only way he could possibly connect with the woman he never knew but was responsible for his existance. The Book itself was a collection of dreams, nightmares and visions that dictated tales of ethics and morality, with strong messages of compassion,strength, righteousness and forgiveness in the face of certain death. Using this book, Malphias formed the "Road to Zion" philosophical and religous group, which blossosmed into Zionism and eventually became the largest religion in the region, with a population of Zealots ready that followed Malphias as its patron saint. After his betrayal by Kaiser and his time with the Sorrows, Malphias exsperienced similar events and which led him to write the new testament of the Tome, adding onto the tales told by his mother.